This is a view from Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, California. Not the usual panoramic view of the downtown skyscrapers, steep house-lined streets, nor the bay with its scenic bridges and Alcatraz Island. We have captured those types of images too. But The Wild Images Team is often looking for unique viewpoints, usually to give a sense of scale to the places we explore. And for San Francisco, that means capturing the dramatic steepness to the landscape in the hilly portions of the city. Telegraph Hill rises 285 feet above the water of San Francisco Bay, only a couple of city blocks away. It is named for its history. On the hill in 1849 was constructed a semaphore, a tower topped by a mast on which movable panels were hung. The panels could be moved into different orientations that could be viewed and translated from semaphore code into words which would describe the nature of ships and the cargo they carried as they entered into San Francisco Bay. This information was very useful for the local merchants to gauge prices of goods according to demand and future incoming supply. As electricity was discovered and developed, the first telegraph in California replaced the semaphore atop the hill as a faster form of communication. Today the Coit Tower now stands atop Telegraph Hill. The Wild Images Team has explored throughout San Francisco by foot and trudged up Telegraph Hill multiple times. Here we captured a northeasterly directed image of Lombard Street far down below, framed by the trees, bushes, and flowers on the hilltop. The rooftops of buildings up to 15 stories or more sit well below, yet appear almost close enough to jump onto as the landscape here drops dramatically over cliffs. Looking closer, a few tiny pedestrians can be seen walking on the sidewalks of Lombard Street. The Wild Images Team has captured many other photos from California such as the scene of a blooming thunderstorm over Joshua Tree National Park, the lava flow created streaked ridge in Lassen Volcanic National Park, and the high altitudes where a giant sequoia is larger and redder than others, the steep Hyde Street view of Alcatraz Island and San Francisco Bay, the drastic slope of the abrupt drop off of Taylor Street, the Pine Street colorful terraced houses with background buildings, the historic looking beautiful terraced houses and a Classic VW Beetle, and the Asian inspired intricately ornate Chinatown scene, each of which are available for sale in our store. Blog posts from California have documented the long and winding road climb to the giants of Sequoia National Park, the size comparison of The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina and the giant tree, the massive view where giant sequoias maintain their diameters over hundreds of feet, an overlook into the Merced River Valley with Liberty Cap, the road heading towards the sheer monolith of El Capitan, the road heading towards desolate ridges of Joshua Tree National Park, the location where the road rises out of Bumpass Hell, a beach dune covered view of the secret underground World War II bunker, the reflective tower of the Marriott Marquis over the Yerba Buena Gardens, the distinctively ornate Asian architecture and decor of Chinatown, the musically inspired melting records with album covers mural, the long strange trip of the Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia mural, the places where steep sidewalks have stairs cut into them, the street where a tree gives a sense of the steepness, the expansive view of Nob Hill from Telegraph Hill and the oppositely directed view from Telegraph Hill to the northeast, the descent in the upper portion of the Filbert Steps, followed by the middle portion of the Filbert Steps with a pose by The Wild Images Team Coordinator on the steps, followed by the lower portion of the Filbert Steps, and at the bottom a view up the Filbert Street steps again with a pose by The Wild Images Team Coordinator below the steps. From our travels in the nearby Oregon and Washington, we have captured photos such as the deep blue hues of swirled clouds and rim peaks reflected in Crater Lake, the Hoh Rainforest green moss covers every possible branch, and the right place at the right time rainbow over the Mt. St. Helens remnants, each of which are available for sale in our store. Blog posts from Oregon and Washington include the sharp looking view through the Lava Cast Forest, the optical illusion of blue waters and white streaks in Crater Lake, the starkly colorful rainbow rises over the devastation of Mt. St. Helens, the moment The Wild Images Team Coordinator Christina is imprisoned by rainforest tree roots, the interesting story of the Port Angeles waterfront Rocktopus Sculpture, and its accompanying bronze plaque of charitable organizations.
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